A Life Resumed
by SeanWH
Summary: An AU where Vader survives the destruction of the second Death Star, but with a few twists...
1. A New Beginning

A Life Resumed  
  
Chapter One – A New Beginning  
  
Luke Skywalker struggled to keep the damaged Imperial shuttle on course. Making the jump to hyperspace probably hadn't been the wisest decision he'd ever made, but at the time it was either do that or break apart in the shockwave from the exploding second Death Star.  
  
He wished for the second or third time that he'd been paying more attention when he'd hurriedly entered the coordinates for the hyperspace jump. He'd been trusting to the Force at the time to keep him from jumping the shuttle into something that would destroy it, but he'd also intended only a short jump outside of the Endor system. Instead, the shuttle had been traveling through hyperspace for a couple of hours now. Obviously he'd transposed a number or two. He thought again about dropping the ship out of hyperspace, but a tiny voice from the Force kept telling him not to.  
  
He checked the navicomputer and noticed that they were only about twenty minutes away from reversion to real space. He got up and went to check on his passenger.  
  
His passenger lay strapped into a bunk inside the passenger cabin. He was unconscious, but Luke could feel his growing strength in the Force. Calming himself slightly, he reached out through the Force, looking for any potential medical problems with his passenger. After a few moments, he realized that the man lying before him was having difficulty breathing.  
  
Frowning, he withdrew from his trance. Didn't the respirator help with his breathing? He hastily fumbled open the clasps holding the heavy, black helmet on, and lifted it off his father's head. And almost dropped it in shock.  
  
Rather than looking at the aged, pale sickly face of someone near death, he was looking at the face of someone as healthy as himself. Amazed, he began stripping the rest of the heavy suit off of his father and discovered the body of a healthy middle-aged man instead of the damaged body he was expecting. He also came across something else truly amazing—his father now had two normal arms rather than the mechanical ones he had had. Something had changed the mechanical ones into real ones.  
  
"How could this have happened?" he muttered. He stiffened as a flash came through the Force. He'd done...something...to the Force lightning that the Emperor had been killing his father with. He'd altered it somehow, exactly how he had no idea.  
  
Suddenly, his father began coughing, and opened his eyes. "Where...where am I?"  
  
"You're on a shuttle. We managed to escape the destruction of the Death Star."  
  
Puzzlement filled the young looking eyes. "Death Star, did you say? And who are you?"  
  
Concerned, Luke asked, "What's the last thing you remember?"  
  
"I'm not really sure. Something...something about a wedding. Yes, that's it. Padme and I were getting married." Anakin looked up at Luke. "Why? Has something happened? Where's Padme?" He tried to sit up and frowned when he noticed the straps. Luke felt a small surge in the Force and the straps unlatched themselves.  
  
"Careful," said Luke, "you may not have the strength to sit up yet."  
  
Anakin sat up and looked at Luke through suspicious eyes. He noticed the lightsaber hanging at Luke's belt and relaxed slightly. "You're a Jedi, " he stated flatly.  
  
"Not exactly." said Luke.  
  
Anakin frowned. "What do you mean, 'not exactly'?"  
  
Luke sighed. "That's a very long story," he said. He could hear the navicomputer beeping from the cockpit. "We're about to come out of hyperspace and I've got to get up front. I will be more than willing to answer your questions once I've gotten us safely out of hyperspace."  
  
"I'll come with you." said Anakin.  
  
"That's fine--if you think you can make it there," answered Luke.  
  
"The Force gives me all the strength I need."  
  
Luke nodded, and left the cabin; Anakin following slowly behind. Once he reached the cockpit, Luke settled himself in the pilot's seat and initiated the reversion to real space. Once the starlines had cleared it was obvious that they had come out in a solar system of some kind. They were headed towards a green planet that showed the long scars of orbital bombardment.  
  
"What planet is that?" asked Anakin.  
  
"The navicomputer identifies it as a world called Naboo." said Luke. "Ever heard of it?"  
  
Luke felt a massive feeling of shock through the Force as Anakin slumped into the co-pilots chair. "Naboo...yes, you could say that I have heard of Naboo. Padme was born there...we were married there. What's happened here?"  
  
Luke looked at Anakin. "I don't know. I suspect that it may be part of what you don't remember, though."  
  
"You keep saying things like that. What do you mean by that?"  
  
Luke sighed. "How old do you think you are?"  
  
"Twenty-two. Why? What aren't you telling me?"  
  
Luke pointed at a particularly shiny part of the interior hull and said, "Look at yourself."  
  
Anakin turned and looked at his face. Luke could feel the shock resonating through the Force. "What's happened to me? How old am I?" He turned to Luke, panic written on his face, "Tell me, please?"  
  
"Well, basing it off my own age, I figure you're about 44 to 46 years old. But since I don't know how old you were when I was born, I can't estimate it better than that."  
  
He looked confused. "What's your lifeday got to do with how old I am?"  
  
Luke shook his head. "Brace yourself for shock number three."  
  
"Okay..."  
  
"I'm your son."  
  
The stunned silence in the cabin was palpable. "My son..." whispered Anakin. "How is that possible? No. You're wrong. You can't possibly be my son."  
  
"We can do a blood test if you like," said Luke. "Or..." he paused.  
  
"What?"  
  
"I know you can feel the bond between us in the Force. I've felt it ever since that day you told me--the day you cut off my hand." He added wryly.  
  
"The day I..." Anakin fell silent, but Luke could feel him stretching out through the Force. His father's raw power always amazed Luke, but he was confident that he could keep shielded the areas that Anakin didn't need to know yet. Luke felt Anakin's shock as the Force confirmed that Luke was indeed Anakin's son.  
  
"You're my son. Amazing. There is obviously a lot that I'm missing here, like why I would even think about cutting your hand off, let alone doing it. You are going to fill me in on this stuff, right? Like why you don't hate me? Like why you didn't leave me for dead on this Death Star thing before it was destroyed?" Anakin stared out at Naboo. "Why did we come here? You obviously have never heard of Naboo before...and where is your mother? Where is Padme?"  
  
Luke sighed pensively. "I was hoping that you could tell me that. I never knew my mother. I was raised by my Aunt and Uncle on Tatooine."  
  
"Tatooine! That's where I was from. I was a slave in Mos Espa, before Master Qui-Gon found me and freed me. Your Aunt and Uncle raised you?"  
  
"Yes, Owen and Beru Lars."  
  
"The Larses. Actually, Owen was your step-uncle. His father married your grand-mother after he freed her from her owner." said Anakin. "That was while I was away learning to be a Jedi."  
  
"With Obi-Wan Kenobi." said Luke, flatly.  
  
"Yes, with Master Kenobi. How is he? I assume that you know him since you are a Jedi yourself." asked Anakin.  
  
Luke looked at Anakin. "Father, that is one of the things that you aren't ready for--not with your memory loss." While they had been talking, they had entered Naboo's atmosphere and were now flying over heavy forest. Luke indicated the ground. "We need to figure out where to put this thing down before the stabilizers give out completely."  
  
Anakin looked at the navigational displays and frowned to himself. "If I'm reading this right, we should be coming up on Theed in about ten minutes. That's the capitol of Naboo. We should be able to find help there."  
  
"I hope so," said Luke, looking at the scars of orbital bombardment that they were now flying over. "This is pretty serious destruction. I hope there's somebody left in Theed to help us."  
  
"Who could have done this, and why? I've never seen such destruction before," said Anakin.  
  
Luke thought, yes, you have, and were responsible for quite a bit of it. But he kept that thought carefully shielded and hidden from his father, who he wasn't quite sure how to deal with. The memory loss was quite unexpected and presented a number of complications--the least of which was that Anakin had no memory of who he had been. He could feel his father stealthily picking at the shields that Luke had erected around his own memories, but the shields were pretty strong. Still. "I wish you would stop picking around in my mind. I am trying to keep from overwhelming you with information, most of which you would find rather...horrifying."  
  
Anakin looked at him for a moment. "When are you going to fill me in? This is my life that we're talking about." He said this without anger, but more with curiosity.  
  
Luke saw the ruins of what appeared to have been a once-beautiful city approaching and he headed the shuttle towards it. "I don't think we're going to find much help here, " he said. "Maybe we should look else-"  
  
At that moment, there was a loud popping and banging noise from the rear of the shuttle and it gave a sudden lurch as red lights started appearing all over the control console. Luke was suddenly fighting with the controls. "Looks like we don't have a choice." he said, trying to keep the shuttle from plowing into the ground. "This is going to be rough, so you might want to strap yourself in."  
  
"Way ahead of you," said Anakin. "You know, I used to be a pretty hot pilot myself."  
  
"I know. Where do you think I got my piloting ability from?" gritted Luke as he carefully edged the shuttle down towards a burned out clearing near the edge of the city. The shuttle kept trying to roll completely over, which at the altitude they were from the ground would have been an utter disaster. "Hit the landing cycle switch."  
  
Anakin scanned the controls and found the requested switch, which he flipped. There was the sound of hydraulics, followed by yet another bang, and Luke completely lost control of the shuttle. They were only about 50 feet off the ground however, and the crash, while unpleasant, didn't cause any injury to either Luke or Anakin. It was fairly obvious that the shuttle would never fly again.  
  
Once the shuttle stopped moving, Anakin and Luke looked at each other. "Hot pilot, hunh?" asked Anakin, with a grin.  
  
Luke grinned back. "Hey, any landing you can walk away from..."  
  
"...is a good landing." returned Anakin. He paused, "So, you going to answer my question?"  
  
Luke let his grin fall away. "Father, yes it's your life, but it's also my life, and..." He paused for a moment, and then plunged onward, "it's also your daughter Leia's life--my sister."  
  
Anakin's mouth dropped open. "I have a daughter as well?"  
  
Luke nodded. "We were twins. Separated at birth. Leia went to live with the Organa family on Alderaan. I only found about her at the same time I found out about you being my father."  
  
"Why were you separated at birth?"  
  
"That I won't answer until we are off this ship." Luke looked earnestly at his father. "I intend to tell you as much as I can, but now is not the time or place."  
  
Anakin looked as if he wanted to continue, but then nodded. "Alright...son, I guess I can trust you."  
  
Luke felt strangely guilty over the pleasure that Anakin calling him son had caused. Perhaps it's because I feel like I'm betraying Leia, he thought. He started to unstrap himself from the seat, noting that Anakin was doing the same. Luckily the angle that the ship had crashed at didn't make walking too difficult.  
  
Luke went to the back of the shuttle and began to pull open the supply cabinets, removing all of the survival gear he could find. Luckily, none of it appeared to be too badly damaged from the crash, and considering how well stocked these ships were, they probably had more than they could carry.  
  
He looked over at his father, who was packing food concentrates and other survival gear into a pack, frowned, and then went over to the weapons locker. Unlike the survival gear, this had sprung open upon landing and it looked like most of the heavier weapons had been damaged by breaking free and being tossed around during the landing, however he did manage to find what appeared to be a working blaster rifle.  
  
"Here, "he said. "You might need this." Anakin looked at the blaster rifle briefly and then shook his head. "Where's my lightsaber?"  
  
"It got left behind on the Death Star," answered Luke.  
  
"What was the Death Star? You keep referring to it and yet I have no idea what you are talking about."  
  
"It was an Imperial space station. It was basically designed to destroy entire planets—to extend the Emperor's philosophy of control through fear. Behave yourself, or we'll blow up your planet."  
  
"What was the Empire? And who was its Emperor?"  
  
Luke sighed. "The Empire was what replaced the Old Republic. It believes in rule by tyranny and fear, and I am a member of the rebellion against it. The battle we just left was where we finally managed to kill the Emperor and perhaps even destroy the Empire, but it'll take some time to determine that."  
  
"Replaced the Old Republic! But how did the Jedi Order allow that? How did Chancellor Palpatine allow that? Palpatine would have fought to prevent that from happening, as would the Jedi. Is Chancellor Palpatine a part of your rebellion?"  
  
Luke snorted, and then looked directly at his father. "As to how it happened: Emperor Palpatine was all for it." He paused to let his words sink in.  
  
"Emperor Palpatine!" said Anakin, shocked. "But how was that possible? Palpatine was a great man. He was trying to hold together the Republic against forces that wanted to tear it apart." He paused, seeing the truth in Luke's eyes. "But even if I accept that, why didn't the Jedi stop him?"  
  
Luke looked away. "I'm not ready to talk about that yet." He looked up as the ship creaked and shifted slightly. "We need to get out of here." He picked up his survival pack, and the blaster rifle. "I promise I will continue filling you in once we get out of here."  
  
"Okay," answered Anakin and picked up his pack  
  
Luke blew the escape charges on the landing ramp and it thumped down to the ground, and together father and son jumped down to the forest floor. Luke checked the compass he had taken from the survival gear and said, "Theed should be about a kilometer or so that way."  
  
Behind them, in the shuttle, a blinking light indicated that the shuttle's emergency tracking beacon had been activated. It silently blinked on and off, while the transmitter sent the shuttle's location out to anyone who was listening. 


	2. Revelation & Reunion

They began walking in the direction that Luke had indicated. "So, "asked Anakin, "is now a good time to ask you to continue telling me why the Jedi couldn't stop Emperor Palpatine?"  
  
Luke looked at him, and smiled a frustrated smile. "You don't give up, do you?"  
  
"Not usually, no." returned Anakin.  
  
"Well," said Luke, "let me give you an idea why. How many Jedi do you think there are in this galaxy currently?"  
  
Anakin looked at him curiously. "Several thousand, at least, I would think."  
  
Luke shook his head. "No. Currently, there are only two Jedi left in this Galaxy, and you are talking to one, and I'm talking to the other."  
  
Anakin stumbled in shock. "What happened to the Jedi? Tell me please!"  
  
Luke stopped and looked at his father, and noticed how tired he was looking. "I don't think we should continue this conversation right now. You haven't fully recovered from your wounds and we still need to get to Theed, and find shelter for the night." He looked at his father with compassion. "I don't think that you need any more shocks today."  
  
Anakin looked at Luke, and then nodded tiredly. "Just so you don't forget that I need to know."  
  
"I know you need to know, and I will tell you."  
  
They continued walking along in silence, until, on the outskirts of the city, Anakin came to a sudden halt with a hiss of surprise.  
  
"What is it father?" asked Luke, concerned.  
  
"I thought I caught a hint of Padme through the Force, almost as though she is here somewhere. But it was rather fleeting, and it could just be wishful thinking on my part." Anakin looked at the ruined buildings and shook his head. "I don't know how anybody would still be living here."  
  
"Mother is here?" asked Luke.  
  
"Maybe. I don't know. From what you say, it's been a number of years, and it's quite possible that she is dead." Anakin paused, and found, to his amazement, that a tear was running down his face. "I hope she's not. I'd love to see her again."  
  
They continued on down into the ruins of the city, with Anakin telling Luke about the first time he had ever visited here, about how beautiful everything was, and about the Trade Federation and their droid armies. They eventually found the relatively undamaged remains of a house and decided that there was as good a place as any to rest for the night.  
  
Luke set his pack down by the remains of the front entrance to the house, and then turned to his father, who had more or less collapsed on the ground next to the entryway. Anakin looked up at Luke, "Force or not, I am tired."  
  
Luke smiled. "Let me build a fire, and then we can eat some of these marvelous survival rations that we're carrying."  
  
"Sounds great," said Anakin. He watched tiredly as Luke gathered wood for the fire, built it, and then lit it. Now that the sun had gone down, the night air was chilly and Anakin was grateful for the warmth. Luke dug into one of the packs and pulled a couple of ration bars out of it. Tossing one to his father, he collapsed tiredly next to the fire.  
  
After taking a few bites and chewing them in silence, Anakin spoke. "I understand your reasons for telling me things in small doses, but I really need to know what's happened. The missing memories are like a gaping wound in my mind. Please, tell me what happened to the Jedi."  
  
Luke stared into the flames of the fire, and then sighed. "All right, I'll tell you, or at least, what I know of it. But don't say I didn't try to warn you." He took a bite of ration bar, chewed, and swallowed. "Many of the Jedi were killed in the Clone Wars. But the rest of them were..." He paused and looked at his father. "Do you really want to hear this? It's not going to be pleasant."  
  
"Luke...Son, please finish," said Anakin. "I can already tell by your reluctance that it involves me in some way—but I'd rather know than guess."  
  
Luke nodded. "I guess I can understand that. The rest of the Jedi were betrayed and murdered by Darth Vader, acting on orders from Emperor Palpatine, who felt they were a threat to his power and his vision of a perfect galaxy."  
  
"Darth Vader? Who was he? I thought you were going to say that I did it," said Anakin, with a puzzled look on his face.  
  
"You did. You were Darth Vader, the Emperor's most trusted servant. I left the armor and respirator you used to wear back on the shuttle. As Obi- Wan once described you to me—after I discovered that you were my father, he said..."  
  
"If I remember Master Kenobi properly, "said a new voice, "it was something along the lines of he's more machine than man now. He said that to me once, as well." A woman stepped into the firelight, a blaster rifle loosely grasped in her hands. "Hello, Anakin. It's been a long time."  
  
"Padme!" said Anakin, and started to get up from his seat by the fire.  
  
"Oh, stay there," she snapped, motioning with the blaster rifle, "I'm still deciding whether or not to blast you down where you sit. The only things that stopped me are that you aren't wearing that disgusting armor, and that you apparently brought our son along."  
  
"Mother?" asked Luke.  
  
"What are you doing here with him? Has he conned you into his vision of a 'perfect' galaxy? Are two Skywalker males serving Palpatine now in his twisted vision? Have you gone over to the Dark Side as well?" She looked at Luke angrily. "I thought Master Kenobi would have protected you better."  
  
Luke looked at her in shock. "Mother, Ben did the best he could. But he... didn't get much of a chance. Shortly after I met him and discovered who he truly was, he was killed while making it possible for me, my sister, and some friends of ours to escape an Imperial space station."  
  
"And as to your insinuations that I have gone over to the Dark Side..." He shook his head. "Look at him, mother. He no longer wears the armor. He can breathe normally again, and he has two flesh and blood arms again. The Force gave that to him, through me, as a reward for killing his Master Palpatine, thereby saving my life, and returning to the Light." He paused. "And furthermore, he's lost his memories. The last thing he remembers is marrying you."  
  
"He's lost his memory?" asked Amidala, some of the ire in her eyes fading as she listened to Luke.  
  
"Yes. I've told him some of what he's done, but he still hasn't completely regained his strength from the battle with the Emperor, and I didn't want to overload him with information."  
  
"He's very stubborn, our son," said Anakin, "it's one of his more redeeming and annoying traits." He looked at Amidala with a roguish glint in his eyes, "I wonder where he gets that stubbornness from?"  
  
For a second, Amidala looked like she was about to laugh, and her eyes lit up with the inner fire that Anakin remembered so well, but the moment didn't last, and her eyes darkened again. "You were always very charming, Anakin, but I can't forget who and what you are."  
  
"Mother," said Luke.  
  
"Stay out of this son. I don't know how you can forgive him, given what he's done, but I'm not going to."  
  
"Mother, I can't say that I have forgiven Darth Vader for what he did. I probably never will. But this man sitting before you is not Darth Vader. He is Anakin Skywalker, a man I very much wanted to meet." Luke looked at his mother passionately. "He doesn't remember anything since he was about twenty years old. The Force gave him a chance to start over—why can't you?"  
  
"The Force may be all-forgiving, but I am not. Take a look around you—all of this was caused by him looking for me. When my people told him that they had no knowledge of my whereabouts, he refused to believe them, and began the systematic destruction of the few cities on my home world—trying to force them to tell him something they didn't know. I'll never forgive him for that."  
  
"Do you know for certain that he did this, mother? Oh, I know Vader was quite capable of this sort of thing, but something about this doesn't feel right for him," asked Luke. "In fact, I don't think that Vader had anything at all to do with this."  
  
"What makes you say that?" asked Anakin.  
  
"Think about it. You're looking for the woman you love. You suspect that she's hidden somewhere on this planet. Would you risk her life by randomly destroying cities on the surface? Knowing that you may very well kill her by doing so?" asked Luke. "While Vader was far gone into the Dark Side, that doesn't mean that he was insane. This sort of behavior has the ring of Palpatine to it. He wouldn't have cared if he'd killed mother—in fact, he was probably hoping to do so in order to further drive you into his vision of a new galactic order. He probably blamed all this destruction on the Jedi in order to make you hate them all the more."  
  
"That makes a lot of sense," said Padme uncertainly. "That is definitely the sort of thing that he would have done." She dropped the blaster rifle onto the ground next to her and sat down facing the two of them. "Luke, earlier you mentioned your sister; how is she?"  
  
Luke grinned ruefully. "Probably worried sick about me—I wasn't able to tell Leia what I was doing before we got here. Things were a bit rushed."  
  
Padme smiled. "So she's doing well, then?"  
  
"She's one of the leaders of the rebellion against the Empire—you could almost say that she's the heart and soul of the rebellion." He frowned, and looked at his father for a moment. "She's also had some particularly rough times."  
  
"What happened?" asked Padme.  
  
"She was a prisoner aboard the original Death Star—held by Vader. Oh, he didn't know who she was at the time. Anyway, Vader wanted to know the location of the rebel base, but she wouldn't tell him, even after exposure to Imperial interrogation methods..."  
  
Padme threw Anakin a glare full of anger.  
  
"The commander of the original Death Star was a particularly nasty man named Tarkin, and he had his own ideas about how to get Leia to talk. He threatened to use the power of the Death Star on Alderaan—and it was quite capable of destroying entire planets." Luke closed his eyes for a moment and let out a deep breath. "The threat was enough to make her give them a fake location for the base—unfortunately, Tarkin was a sadist and he fired on Alderaan anyway. She had to stand there and watch as Alderaan was turned into an asteroid belt—as everybody she'd ever known was killed."  
  
"Oh my..." breathed Padme. She glared at Anakin again, "how was he involved?"  
  
"My understanding is that he just stood there and watched with Leia," replied Luke. "It's too much to expect that he would have countermanded the order at that point in time. He wasn't aware of the existence of either me or Leia at the time, and I think that is what began his transformation—his awareness of my existence—he was still fully under the influence of Palpatine at that time."  
  
Padme's glare softened and she looked at her husband with something other than hatred in her eyes for the first time. Luke studied them covertly for a moment, and then, looking at the fire, said, "I'm going to go get some more firewood. I'll be back in a few minutes." Grabbing a flashlight, he stood up and walked away from the house.  
  
Padme sat staring into the fire quietly while Anakin studied her quietly across the flames. Anakin cleared his throat and said quietly, "I missed you, you know."  
  
Padme smiled across the flames. "I thought you couldn't remember anything?" "I can't." he answered.  
  
"Then how do you know if you missed me or not?" she asked.  
  
"Because you were one of the first people I asked about once I woke up. If I hadn't been missing you, I don't think I would have."  
  
"Mmm." She responded noncommittally. "You yourself said that your last memory was of our marriage. You were simply wondering where I was. That doesn't mean that you were missing me when you were Vader."  
  
He sighed. "Does it really matter, Ami? My feelings for you are the same as they have always been."  
  
She looked away from him. "That's the problem, Anakin. Your feelings haven't changed, but mine have. It's been twenty years, Anakin. Twenty years that I sat here stewing in resentment and anger against you for doing this to my world. Twenty years that I couldn't forgive you for turning to the dark side and leaving me. Twenty years that I resented you for making me send my children away from me so that I could hide them from you."  
  
She sighed. "Anakin, I realize that you don't remember any of those twenty years, but I do. And those feelings aren't something that I can just get rid of easily." She paused and tossed a twig into the fire, and then looked at him across the flames. "On the other hand, I am also extremely proud of you for saving our son, destroying Palpatine, and returning to the light. Even though you don't remember it; I know how hard that must have been for you. And it is for those things that I am willing to give you a second chance..."  
  
She smiled at him. "We are still married, you know. It's a bit difficult to obtain a divorce when there's no government to obtain it from."  
  
Anakin stiffened and held up a hand. "I think I hear..." At that moment, the roar of sub-light engines drowned out whatever he was going to say. The sound faded as the engines headed away from the house. "If I'm not mistaken, they're headed for the shuttle crash site." He said.  
  
Luke came back in, carrying an armload of wood and looking somewhat concerned. "That was the Falcon. I guess we're going to have the rest of the family reunion quicker than I expected."  
  
"You mean Leia was on that ship?" asked Padme.  
  
Luke smiled. "Yes, she was. Along with some other friends of mine from the Rebellion. You should be seeing her soon enough, mother." He frowned. "I don't know how she's going to react to father, however."  
  
"Probably not well," said Anakin dryly. 


	3. Questions & Complications

Chapter 3 – Questions & Complications  
  
The Millennium Falcon landed in the same clearing that Luke had "landed" the shuttle in. As Han and Chewie began shutting certain systems down, Leia looked out the cockpit window at the semi-intact wreckage of the shuttle.  
  
Han noticed her gaze and said, "The kid's fine, assuming he was on that shuttle. He's the best pilot in the fleet, and that doesn't look like the worst landing I've ever seen. He could easily have walked away from that."  
  
Leia smiled uncertainly at Han. "I know he survived Han—I can feel it. But there's something strange about the way that shuttle feels—something familiar almost..."  
  
Han raised an eyebrow. "You're starting to sound like Luke."  
  
She grinned at him. "Well he is my brother, you know. Some of that Jedi mysticism had to rub off on me a little."  
  
Han snorted. "I had to fall in love with a princess who's also Force sensitive. I suppose next you'll tell me that Darth Vader is your father."  
  
Leia quickly laughed. "Sure, Han, and Jabba was yours, right?"  
  
"Not the last time I checked, "he said with a grin. "Well, this ain't getting the kid found. Hey Chewie, you finished over there?"  
  
The Wookie growled in agreement with Han, and the three of them left the cockpit.  
  
C3PO and R2D2 were waiting in the Falcon's common area. "You two wait here and guard the ship."  
  
Threepio said, astonished, "but General Solo, sir, I'm afraid our programming doesn't cover things like guarding."  
  
Artoo beeped and whistled at Threepio, sounding insulted. Threepio hit Artoo on the head with his arm. "R2D2, you and your crazy ideas are always getting us in trouble."  
  
Han smiled, "You two do what you do best—improvise." He hit the switch on the landing ramp and he, Leia, and Chewbacca left the ship while Threepio was still sputtering.  
  
As they walked down the ramp, they could hear Threepio saying, "but we don't know how to improvise!"  
  
Han looked at Leia. "Next time, those two are riding in the cargo hold."  
  
She smiled.  
  
The three of them walked over to the crash site. "Doesn't look that bad. Hey Chewie, check the stabilizers on this thing, I bet they're blown."  
  
Chewbacca honked and headed for the rear of the shuttle.  
  
Han looked at Leia. "Let's check out the inside ourselves." He indicated the shuttle's landing ramp. "After you, sweetheart."  
  
Leia looked at him, smiled, and then proceeded up the landing ramp, followed by Han. Once inside, they stopped at the top of the landing ramp, and Han said, "I'll check the cockpit, and the cabin on the starboard side. You check the port side."  
  
Leia nodded, and then added, "Han, be careful. There is something very strange about this shuttle."  
  
He winked at her. "I'm always careful, princess." He headed for the cockpit of the shuttle.  
  
She checked the survival gear storage lockers, which she noticed had been left open, and gear was lying strewn about. She frowned when she noticed that most of the food supplies were missing—Luke had had survival training, and knew that you only carried what you could. He had taken enough for two. The shuttle was in no danger of exploding and he could have come back for the rest if he needed to. For that matter, why hadn't he stayed with the shuttle? That was the first rule of survival for pilots.  
  
She turned to the weapons lockers, and discovered another mystery. A blaster rifle was missing. Luke had his light-saber, why would he take a blaster rifle?  
  
Frowning, she went into the port side cabin. She fumbled for the light switch for a moment, and then turned on the lights. "Han!!!" she screamed. She could hear his thumping footfalls as he ran back from the cockpit.  
  
"What's the matter, "he asked as he entered the cabin.  
  
Wordlessly, she pointed at the pile of Darth Vader's armor that lay in the corner of the room.  
  
"Oh sithspit!" said Han, then he paused. "Wait a minute... I thought his dark and nastiness couldn't live without this stuff."  
  
"He's not supposed to be able to," answered Leia. Luke, what happened here? She thought. Did you remove him from his armor so that you could bury him without it? The thought that Luke could have saved Darth Vader was simply impossible. "We need to find Luke," she said. "You sure he was on this shuttle?" asked Han, concerned.  
  
"Oh yes, I can feel his presence here, somehow," she answered. "It's very strange."  
  
Han made a noncommittal noise and then bent down and picked up the helmet. He said, "let's get out of here. I bet the kid went down into the ruins."  
  
Leia nodded, her eyes still lost in thought. She noticed the helmet in his hands. "What are you going to do with that?"  
  
"Show it to Chewie. He needs to know that something strange is going on here."  
  
"That makes sense," she said.  
  
Han noticed her distraction. "Are you all right?"  
  
Leia looked at him. "I'm trying to come up with a logical explanation for that being here, and I'm not having much luck. The thought of Luke betraying us just doesn't make any sense."  
  
"You know as well as I do that he can't wouldn't do that," replied Han. "When we find him, he'll probably have some silly explanation—some Jedi thing, probably."  
  
She sighed, "you're probably right."  
  
They left the cabin and headed for the ramp. Behind her calm eyes, however, Leia was still thinking. Luke, I know what he told you, but I will NEVER accept that monster as my father. I don't know what happened here, but I will find out.  
  
She descended the ramp to where Han was showing the helmet to a disturbed Chewbacca.  
  
"Let's go find him," she said, shortly. She headed off into the woods without waiting to see if they were following.  
  
"Hey, Leia!" shouted Han. He caught up to her and put a hand on her shoulder. "Whoa, Princess, he's not going anywhere. What's got you so upset?"  
  
She looked at Han for a moment, and then, belatedly, realized that tears were running down her face.  
  
"What's the matter, sweetheart?" he asked, concerned.  
  
She sighed. "Well, Han, I told you that Luke was my brother. I know that Jabba isn't your father, but according to Luke, Darth Vader IS my father."  
  
Han stood there stunned for a moment, while Chewie honked in sympathy. "Darth Vader is you and the kid's father?"  
  
She nodded. "That's what Luke believes, anyway. I'm afraid that he's down here with him—that Vader survived the destruction of the Death Star."  
  
"Hmm," answered Han. "That still doesn't explain how he could survive with the life support stuff in the armor."  
  
"I know, "she said, "that's got me stumped as well."  
  
"Well, let's go find Luke and ask him," said Han.  
  
The three of them set off down the forest path towards the ruined city.  
  
---------------------------------------------------------------------------- --------------  
  
Behind them, on the shuttle, a female figure pushed open the door of a hidden compartment behind one of the storage lockers. She crawled out of the small hole and stretched; enjoying the feel of cramped muscles being allowed to relax after hours in that tiny hole.  
  
Muttering appreciation at the people who had left her easy access to weaponry—not that the lock on the armory would have stopped her, she had a pass-code for it—she settled on a small blaster pistol and a portable ion gun. Solo and Organa were known to travel with droids and she didn't want them interfering with her plans.  
  
Finished, she left the shuttle and walked quickly across the clearing to the Falcon's boarding ramp.  
  
How trusting of Solo, thought the woman.  
  
She quickly, but silently made her way up the ramp, where she could see the two droids standing in the common area.  
  
Almost too easy, she thought, as she quickly disabled both droids with one shot from the ion gun.  
  
She made her way back to the engine compartment where she removed a small but critical part of the repulsor-lift engines that allowed the Falcon to get off the ground. This wouldn't have grounded the Falcon, she thought critically, except that there wasn't enough room in the clearing for the Falcon to use the sub-light engines for take-off.  
  
"Now, where to hide this?" asked Mara Jade as she made her way out of the Falcon. Skywalker is not going to escape me! 


	4. Welcome to the Family

Chapter Four  
  
-- Theed --  
  
Luke looked at his parents sitting quietly in the firelight and he smiled. "I'm going to go wait outside for them, " he said. "It might prevent some unfortunate initial reactions." He dropped the firewood on the pile, and then he turned and went back outside.  
  
He sat on the remains of a stone bench that had once been in front of the house and stared up at the unfamiliar constellations of the Naboo night. He was aware of his father and mother talking quietly in the ruins of the house behind him. He smiled quietly to himself and hoped that they would be able to resolve their differences. Meanwhile, he had to figure out what to do about his friends.  
  
Luke knew that Anakin had understated the reaction Leia was likely to have about him--she'd been through entirely too much at the hands of the Empire and Vader to easily forgive and forget.  
  
Why am I so ready to forgive him? He wondered. Is it because I was so desperate for a father? He is no longer Darth Vader; apparently that part of him is gone forever--at least to his mind, but not to the rest of the galaxy. As far as I am concerned he is Anakin Skywalker, but can I get Leia and the rest of them to see him that way? He sighed. I guess I'm just going to have to be patient.  
  
His father's memory loss presented additional complications. He truly does not understand what a monster he was, thought Luke. And I can only tell him so much.  
  
He looked down. The bench sat at the edge of a pool of water, and the water was quiet and dark in the still night air. He picked up a pebble and dropped it into the water, watching the ripples spread throughout the water. "Always in motion, the future is..." he half-whispered to himself.  
  
This line of thinking was getting him nowhere, he realized. He straightened up and tried reaching out with the Force, to try and feel where his friends were. At first, he was aware of nothing but the quiet night air and the sounds made by the native animals. As he relaxed, and felt the aches and pains left from his battle with Palpatine fade into the background, his awareness expanded out into the ruins. He found Han, Leia, and Chewbacca fairly quickly--they weren't that far away. For a moment, he studied them in the Force, noting how their presences reflected their personalities. As he studied them, he became aware of another presence flickering on the edge of his awareness. This one felt dark somehow, and dangerous. He reached out to study it, and then found himself slipping into a vision.  
  
He found himself standing by the edge of a deep crevice engaged in a vicious lightsaber fight with a redheaded woman. Her face was snarled in anger and their bodies dripped with sweat from the exertion. She swung at him again, and he jumped up and over her head, knowing the he was the better fighter, and that he could twist himself in flight and stab down at her before she could react. But he hesitated, feeling a strange reluctance to kill this pretty young woman. "It doesn't have to be this way!" he shouted to her.  
  
The vision melded into another one; that of the pretty redhead holding a baby and looking at him with love in her eyes. "He's beautiful, Luke." she said.  
  
"I definitely agree with that," said Anakin's voice.  
  
"Luke. Hey Luke!" said a voice, urgently.  
  
"Hunh? What? Han?" said Luke, suddenly becoming aware of his surroundings. Han, Leia, and Chewbacca stood around him. Han was holding a lantern that lit up the area almost as brightly as day.  
  
"Where were you, buddy?" asked Han. "You seemed really out of it."  
  
"Vader didn't do this to you, did he?" asked Leia, angrily.  
  
"No. I was having a vision through the Force. I think there may be somebody else on this planet with us."  
  
"Friend or foe?" asked Han.  
  
"That was the confusing part. I'm not really sure," replied Luke. "I know that I'm supposed to have a lightsaber fight with her, but that I don't want to kill her."  
  
"Her?" said Han with a glance at Leia.  
  
"Yes," answered Luke.  
  
Leia looked at Luke. "We went inside the shuttle. Do you want to explain what we found there?"  
  
"I can try, but I'm not sure that you would believe me," he answered.  
  
"Why not?" she asked.  
  
"Because, to be honest with you, I'm still trying to understand what happened myself." Luke paused and then half-mumbled to himself, "I think it's because he couldn't stand to see his own son murdered by Palpatine." He looked up at Han and Leia. "Understand, I wouldn't be sitting here talking to you if it hadn't been for him. Palpatine had beaten me--I had lost. I was going to die. He picked Palpatine up and threw him down a reactor shaft--getting horribly injured in the process." He paused and swallowed. "He should have died. But I reached out--did something with the Force--I don't know what, and he didn't die. Instead, he didn't need the armor anymore. He'd regenerated all the damage that had caused him to need it."  
  
"Darth Vader is alive?" asked Leia, in a flat, disbelieving tone of voice.  
  
"No, not exactly." said Luke.  
  
"What do you mean then?" she asked dangerously.  
  
"Anakin Skywalker is alive. Darth Vader died on the Death Star when whatever I did healed him. I hadn't gotten to the most important part yet-- he's lost his memory. He remembers nothing of his actions since the day he married our mother twenty-some years ago. He truly does not remember being Darth Vader."  
  
"And you believe this?" she asked, incredulously.  
  
He sighed. "Leia, I was there. I know what happened, and if he's lying, he's utterly convincing. Don't you think that I haven't sat here and wondered why I'm so ready to accept him? Is it because I want a father so bad that I can ignore what he previously did? Is it because of something he's doing? I don't know the answers, but I do know that the man in there is not the man we thought of as Darth Vader!"  
  
"Um, guys," said Han, "I hate to interrupt, but we have company." He indicated the doorway of the house, where Anakin and Padme stood, silhouetted against the fire at their backs.  
  
"I'm sorry," said Padme, "but we heard the shouting, and since we knew it had to be about Anakin, we decided to come participate."  
  
Han looked closely at Padme for a moment, and then glanced at Leia. Luckily, she was still staring at Luke or she would have seen the expression of shock that passed over his face. Luke saw it however, and smiled. Good old observant Han, he thought, trust him to figure things out. Han cocked an eyebrow at him and Luke nodded.  
  
"What are you smiling at?" asked Leia, snappishly, "and aren't you going to introduce us?"  
  
Luke sighed. "Well yes, but I'm going to do it in a slightly different way from what you're used to."  
  
"Why?"  
  
"Because I want you to accept it for the truth it is. Han's already figured it out, but I need you to figure it out on your own," answered Luke.  
  
"Figured out what?" asked Leia, curiously, turning to Han. "What is it, Han?"  
  
"Sorry, princess, but I agree with your brother there. You need to figure this one out yourself," he replied.  
  
"Perhaps if you could see me better?" said Padme, as she walked out into the circle of light cast by Han's lantern.  
  
"Your voice sounds familiar, somehow," said Leia, puzzled. She turned to look at Padme and gave a little gasp of recognition. "It's...it's...Sabe! My old nurse, Sabe." Leia ran to her and gave her a hug. "You left so suddenly, and all father would say is that you had a family emergency and you wouldn't be returning. What are you doing here? I missed you so!"  
  
Padme smiled wistfully. "Oh, child. I had to leave because the Emperor's servants were getting to close to discovering who I was. You see, my name isn't Sabe, it's Padme Amidala Naberrie Skywalker." She paused to let that sink in.  
  
Leia's eyes widened as the import of Padme's words sank into her. "M...mother?"  
  
"You see, Bail and Obi-Wan thought it best if neither of you knew that your parents were alive. The obvious reason for that was your father..." She glanced at Anakin, standing in the doorway, "but it was also decided that it would be too dangerous for you to know that I was alive as well. You might have told someone who would report it to the Empire. And the ultimate goal was to protect you both from the Emperor. So, I came here. This was...is my homeworld, after all."  
  
"But...how..." said Leia. Suddenly her face darkened, "This is some kind of trick isn't it? You're trying to fool me. Why?"  
  
"Leia," said Luke. "This isn't a trick. Han sees the resemblance between you and mother. You both look so much alike it's hard not to--although at least she doesn't use a cookbook for a hair-styling guide." He grinned at her.  
  
"Luke, I..."  
  
"Look, I realize that this is all very difficult to take in at once." Luke continued. "Imagine how I felt. I'd just started to deal with the shock of the events that occurred on the Death Star and during the flight here, and then I meet my mother. It's a bit overwhelming."  
  
Leia cleared her throat. "Luke, that's him, isn't it?" she said, indicating Anakin's shadowy figure standing in the doorway.  
  
"Yes," he said.  
  
At Leia's words, Anakin stepped forward into the circle of light cast by the lantern. He just stood there, unable to meet her eyes, as she studied him. He looked defenseless somehow, standing there without the armor and the mask. He was tall, she thought, that certainly hadn't changed, but the imposing, overbearing sense of evil was gone. He was a middle-aged bald man who thought he was a twenty-year old.  
  
Why didn't I get some of his height, she thought quizzically.  
  
She caught herself mentally. Did I just think something funny about Darth Vader? She thought. And did I just accept him as my father? What's wrong with me?  
  
But he's not really Vader anymore, whispered another part of her mind. Luke certainly doesn't think so, and Luke's never led you wrong before. And there's nothing wrong with you--he is your father.  
  
But losing his memories doesn't excuse what he did as Darth Vader! And I don't want Darth Vader as a father! She could feel her utter disgust at the thought of being related to that monster climbing up her throat.  
  
Being related to him doesn't mean that you've acquired responsibility for his evil. Anakin Skywalker was a good man, and you've accepted that Padme is your mother--do you really think that your mother would have married someone so evil? Besides, whispered the other part of her mind, he isn't Vader any more. It's like Luke said, Vader died on the Death Star. He's Anakin Skywalker now. Give him a chance. Between the three of you, you should be able to keep him on the light side.  
  
Who are you? She thought. You aren't me, she added.  
  
I've always been here, said the other voice. Obi-Wan was watching over Luke, and I took it upon myself to watch over you. My name can wait for another time. You need to speak to your father now. The living are always more important than the dead.  
  
You're dead? She thought, but there was no answer. The voice seemed to have gone elsewhere.  
  
She looked around and noticed that everyone was staring at her. "Are you alright?" asked Han, "You seemed a little blank for a minute."  
  
"I'm fine," she said, with a reassuring smile. She turned her gaze back to her father.  
  
"Anakin?" she said gently.  
  
At her tone of voice, he looked up at her, and it was immediately obvious where Luke had gotten his eyes.  
  
"Anakin," she continued, "I can't and probably won't forgive what you did as Darth Vader. But Luke seems to think that Darth Vader died on the Death Star, and as I love my brother, I'm going to try to think the same way." She was surprised to find tears running down her face. "I guess what I'm trying to say is, I'm glad Luke found you, father." 


	5. Authors Note 1

Author's Note

First, I apologize to everyone whose been waiting on me to post the next chapter, I really should have had this thing completely written before I started posting as DRL is really making it hard to find time to write.

Second, you're going to be seeing a lot of Mara Jade in the following chapters. This isn't the usual Mara Jade however, her personality is a bit out of character due to a plot reason. If you are one of those people who don't like canon characters written OOC, then don't read this story.

Thanks,

SeanWH


	6. Madness

Chapter Five

Leia woke up the next morning and sat up, noticing that she seemed to be the only one awake. They'd stayed up fairly late into the evening talking about the inconsequential things that make up a life. Anakin, with a shy glance at mother, had talked about the first time he'd met Padme when she'd walked into his master's shop in Mos Espa looking for spare parts, and he'd asked her if she was an angel. It was obvious from the glances and his tone of voice that Anakin was still very much in love with mother. But as for mother's feelings about father, Leia had a harder time figuring them out.

The revelation that her father had been a slave on Tattooine made several things clear to Leia. First, it was obvious why he had been so easily manipulated by Palpatine--once a slave, always a slave. That was a particularly harsh thing to think about one's father, she realized, but it was true. In Anakin's case, judging by the things he had said, his owner had been pretty much a father figure to him. Because of that, anyone who treated him in a similar fashion felt "right" to him. Obviously, Palpatine had taken advantage of this weakness of Anakin's to control him.

It also explained why Vader had been so adamantly against slavery. It was, Leia admitted to herself, one of the few things she had admired about Vader--at least before her visit to the first Death Star. She looked over at where Anakin lay sleeping on the ground, and noted how peaceful he looked. She smiled briefly, and then, moving slowly so as not to wake Han who was sleeping close by, stood up and walked away from the group.

I've come to accept him as my father fairly easily , she thought. But why? Losing his memory doesn't excuse his previous behavior. 

Perhaps it's because you wanted to find you father as much as Luke did? asked the voice that had talked to her last night.

Why would I though? she asked. I had Bail as my father, and I wasn't living with an Aunt and Uncle who didn't like my father even being mentioned. I don't have any reason to obsessively want a father. She paused. Are you going to tell me who you are, now? 

The voice seemed to laugh in her mind. I suppose I should at that. I am former Jedi Master Qui-Gon Jinn. I'm the one that found and freed Anakin, and then insisted that he be trained as a Jedi, even after the Jedi Council had denied it. I was Obi-Wan's Master, and the reason that he wound up training Anakin. The voice had gotten sadder sounding as it spoke.

So why are you in my head? she asked.

As I told you last night, I took it upon myself to watch over you, much as Obi-Wan was watching over your brother. You seemed to be the more sensible of the two, and wouldn't need quite as much watching over as Luke did. 

Leia laughed. Do you still think that way? 

Not exactly admitted Qui-Gon.

Their conversation had carried Leia out of sight of the rest of the group. It was a beautiful morning, with Naboo's sun low in the sky, and a cool breeze promising moderate temperatures for the day. It was very relaxing and disarming, which is why, even with Qui-Gon's warning shout of Leia, watch out! , she did not react fast enough to prevent something from impacting the back of her skull hard enough to knock her out.

When she came to, with a pounding headache, she found herself dumped unceremoniously in the passenger seat of an old landspeeder. Her hands and feet had been bound, but otherwise she was unharmed.

"Oh, we're awake are we?" said a female voice.

Leia tilted her head so that she could see the speaker, even though the movement sent pain shooting through her head. "Ummph," she groaned, "did you have to hit me so hard?"

The speaker moved around so the Leia could see her. She was a woman about Luke's height with brilliant red hair. "Well, no, probably not. But given your family background, I wanted to make sure I captured you."

"Family background?" asked Leia.

"Sure, Princess Leia Organa, or should I say Organa Skywalker? You're related to two very strong Force users, and I didn't want to take any chances," the woman replied.

"Who are you?" asked Leia.

The woman glared at Leia. "Well, thanks to you and your Rebellion, I'm nobody. But I used to be the Emperor's Hand, his personal assassin."

Leia swallowed nervously. "I thought that was Vader's job?"

"There were things that my master didn't trust Vader with. My master never really trusted Vader, you know. He always suspected that Vader would try to betray him."

"So why are you here?" asked Leia.

"To carry out my master's final command: kill Skywalker." replied the Emperor's Hand. "I suspect that capturing you will bring them to me--your father and brother won't leave you in danger."

"Why are you doing this?" asked Leia. "Palpatine's dead. There's no reason to follow his orders anymore."

At that question, the woman's face twisted strangely. "I...I have to follow my master's orders." Her eye's turned inward with remembered pain. "I must or I will be punished. There is no choice."

"How can he punish you? He's dead."

The woman still seemed strangely distracted. "No, death has no meaning to him. I will still...oh, master, please! I did the best I could!" She half-crouched with her hands raised as if to ward off a blow. "No! Please! Stop!"

Strangely, Leia felt nothing but pity for this strange woman. It was obvious that Palpatine had hurt her greviously at some point.

She's still dangerous though. said Qui-Gon in her head.

I know that. But I can still feel sorry for her, can't I? she thought.

Qui-Gon chuckled. How like your mother you are--although, to be honest, I didn't know her that well--not like Obi-Wan and Anakin did. For a politician though, she was definitely better than most. 

Leia kept an eye on the red-headed woman. She seemed to still be reliving whatever Palpatine had done to her. Why didn't you know her that well? she asked Qui-Gon.

Quite simply, I died. I was defeated by Palpatine's first apprentice during the battle to reclaim Naboo from the Trade Federation. he replied.

Can you tell the others what's going on here? I don't want them caught by suprise. 

I'll see what I can do. Just relax and go with what this woman wants. I doubt that she's going to hurt you. 

Alright. she thought.

Qui-Gon's presence went away.

Leia looked over at the woman who had ceased her painful recollections and was loading stuff in the back of the landspeeder. Satisfied with her packing job, she climbed into the pilot's side of the speeder and started the engines.

"Where are we going?" asked Leia.

The woman looked over at her. "Somewhere up in the mountains, where it'll be harder for them to find us. I don't want to make it too easy for them."

Leia nodded. "Look, do you have another name? I refuse to call you the Emperor's Hand, or even 'hand'. It sounds really stupid." She was amazed at her bravado with this apparently dangerous, disturbed woman, but somehow she sensed that the Emperor's Hand wouldn't hurt her.

"I suppose that you could call me Mara," answered the woman, "that was my real name, Mara, Mara Jade."

"Okay. Mara." said Leia, easily. "So, how did you wind up working for Palpatine anyway?"

Mara looked over at her. "I don't want to talk about it." Her eyes glinted dangerously. "How about we just ride in silence for awhile, okay?" She turned back to her driving.

Leia sighed and tried to make herself more comfortable in the cramped position she was in.

"Anakin!" said an urgent voice in his ear.

Half-asleep, he murmured, "Go away, Master Qui-Gon. I need sleep."

"Anakin! You must wake up. Leia's in danger!"

"Hunh? What? Leia?" Anakin snapped awake and sat upright. He opened his eyes and was amazed to see the glowing shade of Qui-Gon Jinn standing over him.

"Master Qui-Gon? What? What did you say about Leia?" His voice, louder than normal, had awoken everyone else, and they looked in amazement at the ghost standing amongst them.

"She has been kidnapped by a woman calling herself the Emperor's Hand. I don't believe this woman means her any harm--her targets seem to be either you or Luke."

"How did this happen?"

"I wasn't being observant enough," answered Qui-Gon wryly. "I was so involved in the conversation I was having with Leia that the Emperor's Hand was able to sneak up on us both and knock Leia out."

Anakin growled and picked up his blaster rifle. "Come on, let's go get her."

"Anakin?" asked Qui-Gon chidingly, "a blaster rifle?"

Anakin looked briefly ashamed. "I lost my lightsaber on the Death Star, and I haven't had time to build a new one."

They were interrupted by a comlink's ringing tone. Padme snatched it up. "Hello?" she said.

"Let me speak to a Skywalker," snapped a woman's voice.

Padme looked around at the rest of the group and then said, "you are speaking to a Skywalker--Padme Amidala Naberrie Skywalker."

"Oooh, we've got mommy on the line," sneered the voice. "Does mommy miss her little girl?"

Padme looked around at the others. Most of their faces reflected disbelief at the childishness and silliness of the taunts. "Who am I speaking with?" she asked carefully.

"This is the Emperor's Hand." snapped the voice. "If you ever want to see your daughter again, come to the following coordinates--she reeled off a set of planetary coordinates--and make sure that you bring all of the Skywalkers with you." The voice paused. "Oh, and one final thing, you won't be able to use that junk heap you came here in to come after me. I'm afraid I disabled it and those two droids of yours. Ta ta..."

"She touched my ship?!" snarled Han. "When I get my hands on her..." Chewie roared in agreement.

"That was the Emperor's Hand?" asked Padme. "Somehow, I expected someone more--more professional. She sounds like a cheap holothriller villan."

"Yes," said Qui-Gon. "Leia and I had noticed that she seems a bit unstable. Perhaps Palpatine's death has affected her in this way."

"Great!" said Luke, "a mentally unstable Imperial assassin is holding my sister hostage. And here I thought we were just going to have a nice quiet family reunion." He frowned. "What does this Emperor's Hand look like, anyway?"

"She's about your height, with brilliant red hair." answered Qui-Gon.

"That's the woman from my vision," exclaimed Luke.

"Vision?" asked Anakin.

"Yes, while I was waiting for everyone last night, I had a vision of a woman that looked like who you described. I was having a lightsaber fight with her, but for some reason I didn't want to kill her." Luke paused, wondering if he should mention the vision with her and the baby, but decided against it. "...and then Han pulled me out of it."

Qui-Gon looked at Luke piercingly for a moment, almost as if he could see the thoughts that Luke was hiding, and then said, "Hmm, apparently she is important to you in some way. Do you have any idea what triggered this vision?"

"Well, I was reaching out through the Force, trying to find Leia, and I felt this dark presence hovering around the edges of my perception. It's when I tried to narrow down what it was that the vision occurred."

"Interesting. So the Force was trying to give you some warning of her presence here."

"I guess so." said Luke, "I probably should have paid more attention to it, but it seemed to be occuring at some point in the future, and you know what Master Yoda always said..."

"Always in motion the future is!" chorused the two living and one ghostly Jedi in the room. The levity died as quickly as it was born as the seriousness of the situation re-asserted itself.

"What are we wasting time sitting around talking for?" asked Han. "Let's go get her!"

Chewbacca growled agreement.

"He has a point," said Luke.

Everyone began to pick up their weapons. "I'm afraid that my time here has ended." said Qui-Gon. "It takes a great deal of energy to manifest this way, and much as I would like to, I cannot stay."

"Anakin, I am more proud of you than you will ever know. And you, young Luke, are a credit to your teachers. Be safe, my friends, and may the Force be with you." He faded out.

"Who was he?" asked Luke.

"That was Jedi Master Qui-Gon Jinn," answered Padme.

"Yes. Obi-Wan's master and the Jedi that rescued me from slavery on Tatooine. He was killed battling a Sith during the Trade Federation invasion of Naboo. That's how Obi-Wan wound up training me--it was Master Qui-Gon's dying request." added Anakin.

Everyone had finished gathering up equipment at this point. "Alright," said Han, "Let's go get her."


	7. Return of the Trade Federation

Chapter 6

Mara and Leia traveled in silence, the only sound in the open cockpit of the decrepit landspeeder was the wind blowing through their hair. Leia half lay in her seat, trying to keep the pressure off of her bound hands. There was no play in the rope binding her hands and feet; Mara had wanted to make sure that Leia couldn't pull some Jedi trick to get out of the ropes. As if there was anything I could do she thought. My experience with the Force is limited to listening to Luke talk about it. 

She watched as Mara stopped the landspeeder and consulted a old-style datapad. "What's that?" she asked.

"Old survey records." was the curt answer. Mara put the landspeeder into motion again with a lurch and Leia bashed her head against the seat.

"Oww!" she moaned, "Can't you drive any better than this?"

Mara glanced at her prisoner. "Sorry," she said sarcastically, "that this isn't the typical comfortable means of travel you're used to."

Leia looked at her curiously. "What's that supposed to mean?"

"Oh, come on, Princess," came the snide answer, "like you don't take advantage of your status every chance you get."

Leia was thoroughly confused now. "I still don't know what you mean."

Mara snorted. "Sure you don't. Like you don't insist on hairdressers, and luxury cabins when you travel with that rag-tag collection you call a fleet."

Leia stared at her open-mouthed, astounded. "But I don't. The Alliance can't afford those things, and neither can I. Most of the time I travel on the Falcon."

Mara laughed. "That hunk of junk? Don't make me laugh. That's hardly 'your' style."

Leia was getting angry now. "And what do YOU know about MY style? Hmm? Emperor's lapdog?" She stopped, suddenly afraid that she might have pushed her volatile captor too far. But Mara seemed to not notice the insult.

"Perhaps you do, at that," muttered Mara, "that junk heap does belong to your boyfriend."

"Han? My boyfriend?" sputtered Leia, "He's just a friend of mine."

"Sure," came the sarcastic response, "just like Darth Vader isn't your father."

"Darth Vader isn't my father. Anakin Skywalker is." snapped Leia. She didn't see the slap that bounced her head off of the seat and left a reddened hand print on her face and tears of pain in her eyes.

"Don't EVER mention that name to me again!" snarled Mara. "He murdered my master and left a gaping hole in my life! They will die for that!"

"Who are they?" asked Leia carefully.

"Vader! and his brat!" yelled Mara, "like you couldn't figure that out!"

The anger radiating off of Mara astounded Leia. She'd never seen anyone as angry as this woman before. She shifted in her seat slightly, trying to move further away from her, but all she succeeded in doing was slamming her head against the seat for a third time. The pain this time was too much for her and she passed out.

When she awoke, she was aware that the speeder had stopped and that her hands and legs were untied. She found herself sitting up in the seat with Mara holding an ice-pack to her head.

"Oh good, you're awake." said Mara cheerfully, "I was worried about you for a moment." She smiled at Leia and continued, "I didn't think I'd hit you that hard."

Leia stared at Mara for a moment, wondering who this woman was and where the angry, vicious person had gone.

"Since you're awake now, can you hold this so I can continue driving?" Mara asked.

"Umm, sure," muttered Leia, placing a hand on the ice-pack, "you think we could go back to my friends now? They won't hurt you--not if I'm with you." She held her breath, wondering if the entreaty would work with this strange new personality. She admitted to herself that she much preferred it to the other.

"Oh, I don't think so," replied Mara, "He wouldn't like that, and when he gets mad..." She paused and looked stricken for a moment, "...when he gets mad, he hurts me. I don't want to make him mad."

Him? thought Leia, she must mean the emperor, but he's dead. How can he hurt her? "Who gets mad at you, Mara?" she asked.

"Who? Oh, the Emperor," answered Mara, "I work for him and he doesn't like it when I don't do what he wants." She paused and looked fearfully at Leia. "You don't want to make him mad. He can hurt you without even touching you."

Leia considered this as she reflected on the change that had overcome the Emperor's Hand. Her voice has changed she thought, and she's not the angry, dangerous person she was only a few minutes ago. 

Oh, she's still dangerous said Qui-Gon, Mentally ill, but that just makes her all the more dangerous because she's unpredictable. 

Master Qui-Gon! thought Leia, You're back. 

I can't stay long, Leia he answered, I've about overstayed my welcome on this plane of existence. 

What does that mean? she asked.

I don't have time to explain. Ask Luke or your father some time. They are on their way to find you. He paused for a second, Be very careful with this woman, Leia. She's showing several of the signs of multiple personality disorder--this makes her very dangerous. I have to go now, so be very careful. She sensed a smile coming from him. You were very easy to watch, and it was a pleasure. Take care, Leia. His presence vanished from her mind.

Master Qui-Gon? thought Leia, but nothing answered her.

"Where were you?" asked Mara, bringing Leia back to her surroundings.

"I was just thinking," replied Leia with a tentative smile.

Mara smiled back. "Can I tell you something?" she asked.

"Sure," said Leia uncertainly, but determined to humor this dangerous, unpredictable woman.

"You're very beautiful."

Leia blinked. That was not what she expected to hear from the Emperor's Hand. That's the sort of thing a young girl would say, she thought. Wait a minute, Qui-Gon mentioned something about multiple personality disorder. What was it about that...oh, right...but wait a minute, she still seems aware of what she's doing, that isn't typical of that disorder, or is it? I wish I'd paid more attention in human psychology... 

"Uh, thank you," replied Leia, unsure of how to proceed. "You are quite pretty yourself," she added.

Mara smiled shyly. "I'm not pretty like you are." She frowned. "I hurt people."

"It's not your fault," murmured Leia reassuringly, wondering how much that actually was true.

They continued on in silence, Leia occupied with her thoughts about Mara's behavior, and Mara concentrating on controlling the beat-up landspeeder. So it was a bit of a relief for both of them when Mara brought the speeder to a stop beside a rocky cliff formed by one side of the mountain.

"We're here," she announced brightly, like a child on an outing.

"Where's here?" asked Leia.

"It's a cave," Mara replied excitedly, "I like caves, don't you?"

"Umm, usually," replied Leia with a wry expression, "as long as they don't have space slugs in them."

"You've seen a space slug! Wow! I wish I'd been there--I've always wanted to see a space slug!" Mara was almost bouncing up and down in her seat with excitement.

Leia looked at Mara in astonishment, stunned at the apparently exuberant child trapped in a twenty year old assassin's body. She suddenly felt a wave of anger go through her at what the Emperor must have done to this happy child in order to make her into his willing slave. She shook her head in disbelief.

"Is it true you're Luke Skywalker's sister?" asked Mara.

"Yes, " answered Leia, uncertain of where this line of questioning was going, but nervous that it might bring back the nasty personality.

"Wow! I'd like to meet him. My master didn't like me talking about the Jedi, even though I think they're the coolest. I researched them all at one point or another. I told my master that it was so I'd know my enemies, but it was really just so I could learn about them." said Mara excitedly. "Did you know that Jedi Master Mace Windu was a master of the most difficult Lightsaber fighting style ever? He was SO cool!"

She sounds like a teenager thought Leia, talking about her favorite jizz band or holo star. 

Mara hopped out of the speeder, and then looked worriedly at Leia. "You aren't going to run away from me, are you? If you do, I might have to hurt you, or he'll hurt me, and I don't want to hurt you, you've been nice to me." She looked pleadingly at Leia, "Please don't run away?"

Leia looked at the commlink hanging from Mara's belt. "If you let me call my friends and tell them that I'm okay, I'll stay with you. I promise." She found that she really didn't want to leave this hurt child alone in the woods.

Mara looked at the commlink uncertainly, and then said, "I suppose it'll be all right if you do that. But you can't tell them where you are, okay?" She took the commlink off her belt and handed it to Leia.

"Sure," answered Leia, activating the commlink.

--------Theed-----------

Meanwhile, the rescue party had just left the outskirts of Theed following the trail left by the damaged landspeeder through the tall grass surrounding the city. Han and Luke were in the front, trailed by Anakin, Padme, and Chewbacca. Unfortunately, they hadn't been able to find another working landspeeder, or even one that Anakin and Luke's formidable mechanical skills could repair--at least not in the time they had. So they were walking.

"Luke," said Anakin.

"Yes, father?"

"You never told me what happened to Master Kenobi."

Luke sighed, "Are you sure this is the right time for that?"

"Actually, I think I'd like to know too, Luke," said Padme.

Luke looked back at the both of them. "It isn't pleasant," he said.

"I figured that," said Anakin. "In fact, given your reluctance to talk about it, I gather I'm the one that caused his death..." He sighed and it was obvious he was thinking about something, "but I need to know anyway."

"What were you thinking about then?" asked Luke.

"Was it that obvious?" asked Anakin wryly.

Luke nodded.

"I was thinking about something that Obi-Wan said to me once while we were chasing a Changeling assassin that had tried to kill your mother. I'd done one of my typically impulsive stunts and scared Obi-Wan badly. Anyway, he said to me 'You'll be the death of me one day, Anakin.'" He sighed, "Apparently I was." He looked at Luke, "so what happened?"

Luke shrugged. "It was on the first Death Star. We'd jumped into the Alderaan system shortly after it was destroyed--we were trying to reach Leia. Anyway, we hid while the Falcon was pulled on-board the Death Star. Obi-Wan volunteered to go disable the tractor beam so we could escape--I think he knew you were there because he wouldn't let me go with him." Luke paused and looked at his father. "Anyway, Han and I discovered that Leia was a prisoner and was slated to be executed--Tarkin's orders, not yours--so we rescued her. We fought our way back to the Falcon, and while we were boarding her, I watched you cut Obi-wan down..." He stopped and blinked back tears. "I'm sorry, I...I..."

Anakin blinked back tears of his own, and said, "Never apologize for honest emotion, son."

"What do you know about it?" snapped Luke. "You were living a lie for twenty years! Killing, torturing, and betraying your friends and family all in the name of the 'great Emperor Palpatine'! Where was the honest emotion in that?" he shouted, not noticing that the entire group had stopped moving at his uncharacteristic tirade.

Anakin stood open-mouthed, staring at his son in amazement. Padme looked equally astonished, while Han said nothing but put his hand on Luke's shoulder in comfort.

Luke suddenly stopped speaking and then looked at his father ashamedly, "I'm sorry, father, I shouldn't have..."

"Stop, Luke," said Anakin forcefully. "Never apologize for being angry with me--what suprises me is how long it's taken for you to get that off your chest. Righteous anger is healthy son." He stopped and looked at the ground, "You have every right to be angry with me for what I did."

He looked around at the others, "You all do. The Force may have given me a second chance, but I still have to deal with who and what I was. Even if I don't remember it, everybody else does."

They were interrupted by the ringing of the commlink that Padme carried. She snatched it off her belt and answered it, "Hello?"

"Mother?" asked Leia's voice.

"Leia! Where are you?" asked Padme excitedly while everyone else gathered around her. Han pulled a scanning device from his pack and started trying to track Leia's signal.

"I'm not allowed to tell you that," answered Leia. "I can tell you that I'm okay, other than a rather sore head."

"Where's the Emperor's Hand?" asked Padme.

"Standing here next to me. I think she'd like to say hello to Luke. Is he there?"

"Uh, yes." said Padme carefully.

"Put him on please," said Leia.

Padme handed the commlink to Luke. "Leia, " said Luke, "I'm here."

They heard some indistinct noises over the commlink, Leia muttering, "go ahead", followed by an indistinct "are you sure?" Finally, Mara Jade said, "Is this Luke Skywalker?"

Luke looked quizzically at the commlink. "Yes," he answered.

"Oh, like wow!" came an exuberant and unexpected response. "I'm actually talking to Luke Skywalker? Cool!"

Luke almost dropped the commlink in surprise. He heard Han muttering "What the..." while Padme suddenly grabbed Anakin's hand.

"Who is this?" asked Luke.

"Mara Jade. Hey, I'm sorry about hitting your sister over the head, okay? He told me to do it, and if I don't do the things he tells me to do, he...he hurts me. I don't like it when he punishes me."

"Who is 'he'?" asked Luke, although he suspected what the answer would be.

"The Emperor," she said, "he says he's my daddy although I don't believe him. He never wants me to call him daddy, only master. I mean, what kind of daddy is that?"

"Um, yeah," answered Luke, with a quizzical look at everyone else. Han looked like he was trying hard to hold back laughter, while Anakin and Padme looked slightly worried. "I have to agree with you on that one, Mara."

"Well," said Mara, "I think we've talked long enough. Wow, I can't believe I got to talk to Luke Skywalker. I'm sorry I have to kill you, you sound like a nice guy. Hope you were able to trace this call. Goodbye." The commlink went dead.

Han burst out laughing, "'what kind of daddy is that?' Give me a break! That's the Emperor's Hand?"

"There is something seriously wrong with that girl," said Padme. Chewie howled agreement.

"Did you get the trace, Han?" asked Anakin.

"Yeah, they're somewhere up in the mountains. Shouldn't be more than two or three hours ahead. They've stopped moving."

"Well, let's get going then, " said Luke.

----------The Cave------------

Mara pulled her blaster from her holster and motioned towards the cave opening. "Inside, Princess, and don't try anything. This isn't set on stun."

Leia looked at Mara, disturbed by the angry undercurrents in Mara's voice and realized that the angry Mara was back. Probably the stress of talking to Luke she thought.

Without a word, Leia began moving towards the cave entrance. She's serious about it not being on stun, and she's unstable enough to shoot me without a second thought. Leia sighed internally. I thought only Luke got into this much trouble without any help. 

Mara waited until Leia was about ten feet away from her and then said, "Here, since your hands are untied, you can use this." She tossed Leia a glowrod.

Waited until I was far enough away that I couldn't do anything thought Leia, yes, the assassin is back. She bent down and picked up the glowrod.

They proceeded in silence into the cave, Mara staying about 10 feet behind Leia. The cave itself was not very deep, it proceeded about 100 feet into the mountain before ending in a sealed blast door.

"A blast door?" asked Leia, "Why is there a blast door here?"

Mara glared at her for a moment, and then, deciding that the question was fairly harmless, answered, "This was some sort of defense installation or something. The records were pretty sketchy regarding what this was. I figured it would be a good place to wait for Skywalker."

Leia decided to push, just a little. "You know, the other you was much nicer."

Mara looked at her strangely, "What are you talking about? What 'other you'?" Her face tightened with anger and suddenly she fired her blaster into the ceiling. Rock showered down. "Quit trying to confuse me!"

She stalked toward Leia, pulling a pair of tractor-cuffs from a belt pouch. "I don't think I can trust you anymore. I don't know why I thought I could in the first place."

She stood in front of Leia, who was looking back at her with a mixture of pity and dread. "I don't think I like the look on your face," snarled Mara, her anger again overwhelming.

Mara moved so quickly that Leia never saw it coming; she was suddenly lying on the ground gasping, trying to recover her breath from Mara's punch to her solar plexus. While she was lying there gasping, Mara fastened the tractor-cuffs to Leia's ankles.

"You know what these are," said Mara. "I've got the remote right here. No matter how far you get away from me, I can still stop you from walking with the push of a button. And I'm warning you, if I have to track you down because you ran away and I had to use these, that little punch I gave you just now will feel like a lover's caress compared to what I'll do to you. Do you understand me?" she snapped.

Leia, still unable to breathe, nodded vigorously.

"Good," growled Mara, "when you can breathe again, let me know. I'll be opening that door." She glanced speculatively down at Leia, and then pressed the button on the tractor cuff remote. The two cuffs slammed together, holding Leia's legs so that she couldn't move them. "Don't go anywhere."

Mara pulled out her datareader and walked over to the control panel by the door. She began to press buttons while referring to the datareader; it took her several tries, but eventually the door squealed open. Leia meanwhile had managed to pull herself into a sitting position, ignoring the pain in her stomach.

"Good," said Mara, "you're breathing again. That means we can get moving." She hit the button on the remote control, and Leia, her legs now free, struggled to her feet.

"Princesses first," said Mara with false charm, indicating the dimly lit hallway beyond the blast door.

Leia grimaced, but then began to pick her way through the rock-strewn floor, and then into the hallway. Mara followed ten feet behind her. "Keep going straight to the end of this hall," said Mara, "there's another blast door there."

Leia nodded and kept walking. While she did so, she studied the walls of the hallway, puzzled by their design. To her eyes, they appeared to be ten foot wide doors spaced at three foot intervals. But why would they be doors? she wondered.

They reached the end of the hall, and Mara opened the blast door with the aid of her datareader. They walked into what Leia recognized as a battle control room, having spent a large portion of her short adulthood in such rooms. Everything was dark, the only light coming from the emergency lights glowing on the walls.

Mara walked over to the one console showing any light at all and began wiping the dust off of it and trying to read the labeling.

"What are you doing?" asked Leia, curiously. This place is really old she thought. A lot of this equipment hasn't been in use for over thirty years--I'd say this place is pre-Empire. 

"I'm trying to turn the lights on," snapped Mara.

"I'm not sure I'd do that..." began Leia, as Mara pressed a switch on the console. Lights began turning on everywhere, and they could hear the hum of machinery starting up. They looked at each other for a moment, and heard a thump behind them. They turned around and stared at an old-style battle droid who was pointing a blaster rifle at them.

"Identification," snapped the droid. Other droids began to enter the room from doors along the sides of the room and activate the other consoles.

"Umm," stuttered Leia, for once at a loss for words.

"Negative ID. Umm not in personnel records. Do not move, you are my prisoners." replied the droid.

Another droid, with a different paint scheme, spoke up, "Status of Naboo pacification?"

"Incomplete," answered a third droid. "We have lost communication with orbital control; switching to ground based back-up."

"Activate battle groups al, be, and se. Begin defensive patrolling prior to activation of TF Delta."

"Roger." The droid began to press buttons and issue commands.

The differently painted droid turned to the one holding the blaster rifle on the two women. "Disarm them and take them to the holding cells."

"Roger." The guard droid waited while another droid came up and removed Mara's pistol from her holster. It almost seemed to pause when it came across the lightsaber she had hidden in her belt pouch. "Warning! this prisoner is a Jedi," it said.

"I am not!" she said angrily, finally shaken out of her stunned silence.

"You carry a lightsaber, therefore you are a Jedi. Take them away."

The droids roughly pushed them towards a door different from the one they had entered through, down a short hallway, around a corner, and then they pushed Mara into one barred cell, and Leia into another. The droids then turned and left, pausing to deposit their equipment into locked cabinet.

"Bars?" asked Mara sarcastically. "Nobody's used bars in hundreds of years. These guys aren't that old."

Leia looked at her. "Unless you know of a way to get us through them, they're holding us as well as a regular cell would."

"Sister," snapped Mara, "you forget I'm the Emperor's Hand. There isn't a cell around that'll hold me. Besides, those droids are idiots. They didn't search me hardly at all."

She knelt down and examined the lock on the door. "That's what I thought. These are old-style mechanical locks." She looked up at Leia amazed. "Nobody, and I mean nobody, except some extremely primitive people would use these any more. How did these get here, and why?"

She pulled a pair of metal rods from her boot soles and went to work on the lock. It took her only a minute and the cell door clicked open. "Hah, haven't lost my touch."

She looked at Leia for a moment and then sighed and proceeded to unlock her door. "Thank you, "said Leia.

"Did you happen to see where they put our stuff?" asked Mara.

"Over in a cabinet over there, "said Leia, pointing. "Where did you get a lightsaber from?"

"It's Vader's. I picked it up when he dropped it on the Death Star after your darling brother chopped his hand off."

"Oh," answered Leia. "Well, lets get our stuff and get out of here."


End file.
